'Bingo' has a number of things going for it

March 29, 2007|By Chris Jones, Tribune theater critic

"Bingo," the warmhearted, better-than-you-might-think new musical comedy at the Apollo Theater, is a silly but wholly genial piece in the spirit of the late Fred Alley, the lyricist responsible for such gently satirical small-town classics as "Guys on Ice" and "Lumberjacks in Love."

When the American Folklore Theatre in Fish Creek, Wis., is done with its upcoming production of "Belgians in Heaven: The World's Only Metaphysical Cheese Curd Musical," it should think about booking "Bingo," surely The World's Only Musical Celebration of the Dauber, the Caller and the Pull Tab.

And the celebration of the friendships of women of a certain age. Over at the savvy Apollo Theatre, they can recycle the mailing list for their long-running "Menopause The Musical," because "Bingo," penned by the experienced team of Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid and David Holcenberg, targets the same demographic. And its leading trio of three bingo-obsessed buddies (played by Cheryl Avery, Jacquelyn Ritz and Neda Spears) gives the piece much the same plot as "Menopause," "Nunsense," "Spelling Bee" and "Mamma Mia." Only with cash prizes.

With the setting a live-action bingo hall, the plot here turns on some long-ago dispute between friends that needs to be resolved within 90 minutes (including timeouts for the whole theater to play bingo games) and before one of the parties to the dispute croaks. I didn't entirely follow what caused the original bust-up, but that might well be because I was overly preoccupied trying to maneuver the cellophane across my free spot.

But while the wrong people (and you know who you are) won't want to darken the Apollo's door for this dumbness, "Bingo" is actually a superior show to "Menopause." That's mostly because it has a pop-oriented original score in the "Nunsense" style. And it's a pretty decent mainstream song suite -- "Bingo" actually has a lot more original music than "Spelling Bee." Better yet, Glen Casale's Chicago production comes with a full, decent, hard-working union cast and a peppy live band. The production values are cheesy -- the caller doesn't even get a blower and the sound mix is more like a Dairy Queen Blizzard. But given the ambience, it's not overly bothersome.

The saving grace of "Bingo" is its wit. There are some very solid laugh lines and spoof ditties here (one love song woos the "Gentleman Caller"). And yuks flow from Natalie Berg, the wacky, big-voiced young talent whom I loved at Pheasant Run last season and who here plays a young daughter trying to patch up her sick, bingo-loving mama's friendships. The writers take nothing seriously, making little excursions into "Forbidden Broadway" territory, even if it has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot.

With Avery -- as solid as a filled-up diagonal -- anchoring the show and Renee Matthews -- a cross between a grandma and a madam -- on hand to run the parlor, "Bingo" should do quite nicely this summer in certain circles. Er, squares.